Mr. Reisert’s prior experiences include over 20 years in oil, gas and chemical companies. He has held the positions of Vice President of Operations, Vice President of Engineering, and Vice President of Manufacturing
for divisions of Fortune 500 companies including Baker Hughes Corporation and Phelps Dodge Corporation.
Prior to Baker Hughes, Mr. Reisert spent 13 years with Atlantic Richfield Corporation (now part of BP Amoco)
in a variety of operations and engineering management positions.

Mr. Reisert managed a Phelps Dodge division’s manufacturing operation which included five capital intensive, continuous processing chemical facilities in North America. He was also responsible for the engineering and environmental disciplines in this division which, in addition to operating plants, licensed its engineered process technology to other operators.

Other relevant experiences include participation in the development and process optimization of a highly successful new technology polymer for the petroleum pipeline industry (Baker Hughes). He also was involved
in the construction, startup and optimization of a large petrochemical pyrolysis complex (ARCO). His expertise includes knowledge of worldwide petroleum markets and in alternative energy technologies.

He has a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology and a MBA from the University of Houston.

Mr. Robinson has over 50 years of experience as a physicist and technology development expert. He was the first employee and one of the founders of Scientific Atlanta, Inc. where he served as President, Chairman and CEO for 27 years. Scientific Atlanta manufacturers cable television and satellite communications systems with current sales of approximately two billion dollars and 2500 employees. Over the last 25 years, Mr. Robinson
has been developing and investing in technology ventures which have resulted in successful $100MM+ business enterprises.

Mr. Robinson served as Chairman of the Georgia Science and Technology Commission, Chairman of the
Georgia Tech Research Corporation, Trustee of The Georgia Tech Foundation and Member of the Board of Visitors of Emory University. He has served on the Board of several banks, the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce and the Georgia Business and Industry Association. He was selected as Georgia's Small Business Man of the Year and Georgia's Entrepreneur of the Year. He is a Fellow in the Institute of Electronic and Electrical Engineers and holds 39 patents. He was elected to the Georgia Technology Hall of Fame in 1993 and received an Honorary PhD degree from Georgia Tech in 2003.

Mr. Robinson has B.S. and M.S. degrees in physics from Georgia Institute of Technology.

Clint L. Thompson, Co-FounderStrategist and Business Development

Mr. Thompson’s experience includes over 15 years of consulting experience in the Energy, Agriculture and Environmental industries. As a consultant, Mr. Thompson has developed and implemented national programs
for Fortune 50 energy companies (BP and Chevron); developed the Georgia Value Added Agriculture Program; developed a Strategic Agriculture Plan for Georgia; developed a Biotechnology Infrastructure Fund model for Georgia; evaluated or developed approximately a dozen industry opportunities for the state of Georgia; and has had operations roles including managing over 100 professionals across 7 offices located throughout the eastern portion of the country.

Mr. Thompson has consulted in project development for corn ethanol plants including feasibility study, business planning, securities, equity fund raising and construction phases. Other areas of expertise include communication and presentation skills across a wide range of audiences. He provided speeches/letters to President Carter to present at legislative committee meetings; organized legislative meetings between executive branch leadership, legislatures and industry representatives; and presented at numerous conferences on ethanol industry and strategic developments. He is experienced in forecasting and financial modeling, strategic planning, operations management, contract management, risk management and preparation of decision support packages.

He has a Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Studies from the University of Alabama.

Principal Investigators

Dr. Samuel SheltonPrincipal Scientific Advisor

Throughout his 35 year faculty career at Georgia Tech, Dr. Sam Shelton has sought to apply basic technologies to the commercial design and development of energy technologies with research and development contracts from government and private industry totaling over $30,000,000. Dr. Shelton's primary area of teaching, research, and development is innovative energy systems assessment, design and optimization.

As its first Director, Dr. Shelton founded the Georgia Tech Strategic Energy Initiative in 2004, with a mission
to actively engage Industry to facilitate short term, high impact energy technology development and commercialization. Dr. Shelton, who holds eight patents, has been a successful business entrepreneur raising venture capital and co-founding two startup companies to develop, manufacture and market innovative energy efficient products based on new energy technology.

Dr. Shelton retired from Georgia Tech as Director of the Strategic Energy Initiative in May 2006, and returned part time as Manager of Research Programs.

Dr. Shelton has BS and PhD degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Dr. Joy PetersonTechnology Developer – Hydrolysis & Fermentation

Dr. Joy Peterson joined the Microbiology Department at the University of Georgia in 2002, where she explores the use of forestry residues and agricultural coproducts for bioconversion to specialty chemicals and fuel
ethanol. Current research is designed to evaluate the feasibility of building a rural-based biorefinery coupled
to existing forestry or agricultural processes. A major focus of her laboratory is the conversion of forestry residues, especially from Southern yellow pine, to ethanol. Recent work also encompasses pectin-rich residues, such as those from processing of citrus, apples, and sugar beets. Agricultural residues are available in relatively large amounts and are stockpiled in processing plants which may decrease transportation and collections costs.

Dr. Peterson also has experience converting corn stover, sugar cane bagasse, rice hulls, corn hulls, food processing wastes, and various types of hemicellulose hydrolyzates into ethanol using yeast and recombinant bacteria. Another aspect of her research collaborations is to identify specialty chemicals coproduced with ethanol, and those that may be produced from a separate processing stream at the same plant. Flavor enhancers, antimicrobials, coatings for pharmaceuticals, and high quality absorbent cellulose, are just a few of the products that may be produced from a rural biorefinery.

Dr. Peterson received her PhD degree from the University of Florida for her work with recombinant ethanologenic bacteria in the laboratory of Dr. Lonnie Ingram, Department of Microbiology and Cell Science.
She was a member of the Biology Department at Central Michigan University from 1995-2001, where she received the Provost's Award for Outstanding Research and Creative Activity, the Excellence in Teaching
Award, and the Research Professorship Award.

Dr. John D. MuzzyProcess Technology Developer

Dr. Muzzy's primary research is on composite materials properties and processing. This research includes characterization and modeling thermoplastic composite processes, investigating new techniques for coating carbon fibers, and analyzing the micromechanics of composites. He has done additional research on polymetric medical implants and on a novel process for extracting lignin from biomass. He has directed several conferences for the Society of Plastics Engineers. In the 1980’s he was involved in research programs with the Georgia Tech Research Institute for the production of ethanol from woody biomass.

Dr. Muzzy has a B.S. (1963) and M.S. (1964) from Princeton University, and a Ph.D. (1970) from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.